The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-04-28
HONEST THRIFT
THE THEME OF DR.. TALMAGE'S SUM-
DAY MORNING SERMON.


DAY MORNING SERMON.
"Seest Thou Man DiIigent in Busi-
ness, He Shall Stand Before Kings"
A Good Time Coming for Women
Workers.
BROOKLYN, April 24-At the Tabernacle
this morning, the pastor, Rev. T. Dewitt
Talmage, d. D., read from the Book of Pro-
verbs some lessons about honest thrift. He
then gave out the hymn beginning:
The strife will not be long
This day the noise of battle,
The next the victor's song.
The boy choir chanted an opening and clos
Ing selection. Dr. Talmage's discourse was
entitled: "Behind the Counter; or, Trials
and Encouragements of SaIesmen and Sales
women" He took the two following passages
as his text: "And a certain woman named
Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thy
atira, which worshiped God, heard US; whose
heart the Lord opened Acts xvi, A. "Seest
thou man diligent in his business, he shall
stand before kings. Proverbs xxi 20. The
preacher said:
The first passage introduces to you LYDIA
leal i'll purple cloths or silks She is not
sggling nonenity, hut practical woman,
not ashamed to work for her living. All the
Dther women of Phifippi and Thyatira have
been forgotten, but God has made immortal
N our text Lydia, the Christian saleswoman.
The other text shows you man with head
md hand and hes rt and foot all busy toiling
On up until he gains a princely success
"Seest thou NJ IN diligent in business, he
,hall stand before kings" Great encourage
ment in these two passages for men and
women who will be busy, but no solace for
hose who are waiting for good luck to show
:hem, at the foot of the rainbow, a casket Of
buried gold. 1t is folly for anybody in this
world to wait for something to turn up. 1t
will turn down. The law of thrift is as mex
orable as the law of the tides. Fortune, the
magician, may wave her arm in that drec-
ion until castles and palaces come; but she
will, after a while, nvert the same wand, and
Ill the splendors will vanish into thin cir.
There are certain styles of behavior which
had to usefulness, honor and permanent sue
.ess, and there are certain styles Of behavior
which lead to dust, dishonor and moral de-
.ault. | would like TO fire the ambition Of
Soung people. l have no sympathy with
those who would prepare young folks for life
by whiting down their expectations That
man or woman will be worth nothing to
church or state who begins life cowed down.
The business of Christianity is not to quench
but to direct human ambition Therefore it
x that l come out this morning and utter
words of encouragement TO those who are oc-
:upied as clerks in the stores and shops and
banking houses of the country. You say:
HWhy select one class, and talk to one
specially this morning?" For the same
reason that a surgeon does not open the door
Of hospital and throw in bushel of pre-
scriptions, saying: "Come, now, and get
your medicine" He first feels the pulse,
watches the symptoms, and then prescribes
Tor thet particular case So to-day l must
be specific. The people in this audience who
are clerks are not an exceptional class, They
belong to great company of tens Of thou
sands who are in this country amid circum-
stances which will either make or break
them for time and for eternity. 1 should be
very slow to acknowledge that the clerks,
male and female, of other cities, are any
more honest or faithful than the clerks of our
own city. Many of these people have already
achieved Christian manliness and Chris
tian womanliness which will be their pass
port to any position. l have seen their trials.
have watched their perplexities. There are
evils abroad which need to be hunted down,
and dragged out into the monday light,
In the first place, counsel clerks to re-
member that for the most part their clerk
ship is only school from which they are to
be graduated. 1t takes about eight years to
get one of the learned professions. 1t takes
about eight years to get to be merchant.
Some of you will be clerks all your lives, but
the vast majority of you arc only in a tran
sient position. After while, some Decem-
ber day. the head men of the firm will call
Fou into the back office, and they will say to
you: "Now, you have done well by us; we
are going to do well by you. We invite you
10 have an interest in our concern" You
will bow to that edict very gracefully. Get
ting into street car to go home an old COM
rade Will meet you and say. "What makes
you look so happy to-night9" "Oh," you will
,ay, nothing, nothing" But in few days
your name will blossom on the sign. Either
in the store or bank where you are now, or in
some other store or bank, you will take q
higher position than that which you now oc-
eupy. So feel to-day that I am standing
before people who will yet have their hand
OH the helm of the worlds commerce, and
you will turn it this way or that; now
clerks, but to be bankers, importers, In
mrance company directors, shippers, con
tractors superintendents of railroads-youi
voice mighty ION 'Change"-standing fore
most in the great financial and re
digious enterprises of the day. For
though we who are in the professions may
on the platform, plead for the philanthropies
after all the merchants must come forth with
their millions to sustain the movement. Be
therefore, patient and diligent in this tran
Sient position You are now where you can
learn things you can never learn i'll any othel
place. What you consider your disadvan
tages are your grand opportunity. You sex
IN affiuent father some day come down on 6
prominent street with his son, who has just
graduated from the university, and estab
lishing him In business, putting 800, 900 o
capital in the store. Well, you are envious
You say, ooh, if l only had .chance like tina
young man-if only had a father to put 500,
900 i'll a business for me, then would hav
some chance in the worldn Be not envious
You have advantages over that young mai
which he has not over you. As well might
come down to the docks when a vessel
about to sail for Valparaiso and say, 'Le
me pilot this ship out of the Narrows." Why
/ would sink crew and cargo before l got on
of the barbor, simply because know pothin!
about pilotage. Wealthy sea captains pu
their sons before the mast for the reason tina
they know 1t is the only place where they cal
learn to he successful sailors. 1t is only unde
drill that people get to understand pilotag
md navigation, and l want you to under
stand that it takes no more skill to conduct
vessel out of the harbor and across the Sc
than to steer a commercial establishment clea
of the rocks. You see every day the folly o
people going into a business they know
nothing about A man makes fortune il
one business, thinks there is another occu
patton more comfortable, goes into 1t an
sinks all.
Many of the commercial establishments o
our cities are giving to their clerks mercan
tile education as thorough as Yale or Harv
ard or Princeton are giving scientific attain
ment to the students matriculated- The rea
son there are so many uen laundering Il
business from year to year is because thei
early tnercantile sdHcatioa was neglected